The present invention relates to pre-packaged surgical kits in general, and more particularly to surgical kits for percutaneous endoscopic procedures.
Various medical procedures are simplified by providing the physician with a kit that contains the majority, if not all, of the necessary medical articles that the physician will need to complete a particular procedure. Kits may include articles such as, for example, drapes, syringes, scalpels, needles, clamps, gauze, sponges, drugs, sutures, and devices. Such kits are commonly provided for procedures such as, for example, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (“PEG”) and laparoscopic jejunostomy. These kits reduce the time spent by hospital personnel gathering the appropriate articles that are required for a particular procedure and ensure that the surgeon has each article at hand at the appropriate point in the procedure.
A PEG procedure is utilized to place a feeding tube into a patient that extends from the interior of the patient's stomach exteriorly of the patient. The feeding tube permits nutrients to be placed directly into a patient's stomach. This may be necessary when a patient has a disorder of the gastrointestinal tract, malabsorption (impaired absorption of nutrients, vitamins or minerals from the diet by the lining of the small intestine), or neurological or renal disorders. The feeding tube inserted using a PEG procedure is kept in place until a stoma is formed. Once a stoma is formed, the PEG feeding tube may be removed and replaced with an alternate feeding device.
While many current PEG surgical kits include the necessary medical implements or articles to complete a PEG procedure, the articles in such kits may not be arranged in the most effective and efficient manner within the kits.
Also, conventional PEG kits provide not only the surgical implements, such as scalpels, needles, scissors, and the like, but also “accessory” items such as swabs, gauze pads, single-use packages of ointments and lubricants, suture strands, sponges, and the like. These relatively small, loose, items are, however, relatively difficult to store in the kits. Such items may be simply placed loosely in the kit or provided in a sealed pouch. Once the kits or pouches are opened, these items tend to clutter the kit or are moved out of the kit to various locations by the surgical staff. It is difficult to maintain accountability of the items. Also, the accessory items are generally single-use disposable items and conventional kits do not provide a means for accountability and disposal of the devices after use.